9 Star Wars Toys Cancelled Before Hitting Store Shelves

Via io9.com

Star Wars merchandising is infamous for making a toy out of almost everything in the movies and beyond. That fervor is something we’ll be seeing again next month, when new toys for The Force Awakens come out. But not every Star Wars toy planned has actually been released! Here are nine that never saw the light of day.

9) Rocket Firing Boba Fett

I’m just going to start off with perhaps the most famous unreleased Star Wars action figure ever—in fact, probably the most famous Star Wars figure ever, full stop. Shortly after making his animated debut in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, Kenner planned to tease their upcoming line of figures based on The Empire Strikes back with a new mail-away offer: fans could purchase four figures and send proof to the company to get a Boba Fett action figure that could launch a plastic rocket out of his jetpack.

But shortly after the promotion began, a rash of health-and-safety issues with projectiles in toys swept across the U.S., as kids accidentally shot plastic toys into their mouths and eyes, as kids are wont to do. Fearing a scandal over the Boba Fett Figure could damage the Star Warsbrand, Kenner hastily reworked their “Rocket Firing” Fett and glued the plastic projectile in place. Early figures sent out were packaged with an apology that the firing feature wasn’t included, and while the company long maintained a single firing Fett never made it into the wild, several have since appeared for auction and in collections as highly valuable items.

For the other 8 toys on the list, be sure to check out the entire article at ios.com.